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mike3847

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 27, 2008
15
0
Is it possible to get sound from both the headphone jack and the internal speaker at the same time?

I have a stereo hooked up to my iMac and everything sounds great. What I'm wondering is this. Is there a way to have sound come out of BOTH the internal speakers and the headphone/audio out jack? I haven't found a simple soultion obviosuly, but is there any kind of work around? I know can buy a pair of external speakers and all would be fine. But I'd like to not take away from the output of the headphone jack. So then I was wondering if I cannot have the internal speakers work in conjunction with the headphone jack, if I get a pair of firewire or USB speakers so as to not take away from the headphone jack, will they even work since I have something plugged into the headphone jack? I'm guessing they would still work since they are independent from the jack, but I'm not sure. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 

sjr19

macrumors newbie
Feb 27, 2008
8
0
Not sure if I am understanding correctly but have you tried something like this?

http://www.overstock.com/Electronics/Cables-Unlimited-3.5mm-Stereo-Y-Splitter/2993554/product.html


Is it possible to get sound from both the headphone jack and the internal speaker at the same time?

I have a stereo hooked up to my iMac and everything sounds great. What I'm wondering is this. Is there a way to have sound come out of BOTH the internal speakers and the headphone/audio out jack? I haven't found a simple soultion obviosuly, but is there any kind of work around? I know can buy a pair of external speakers and all would be fine. But I'd like to not take away from the output of the headphone jack. So then I was wondering if I cannot have the internal speakers work in conjunction with the headphone jack, if I get a pair of firewire or USB speakers so as to not take away from the headphone jack, will they even work since I have something plugged into the headphone jack? I'm guessing they would still work since they are independent from the jack, but I'm not sure. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 

saltyzoo

macrumors 65816
Oct 4, 2007
1,065
0
I know this doesn't help, but all i can do is ask "Why in the world would you want to do that?"
 

mokeyboy128

macrumors member
Feb 22, 2008
32
0
The only reason i could think of as to why he would want to do that is, if he pluged some external speakers into the headphone jack and had music also coming out of the interntal ones, he would have a left, a center, and a right speaker persay
 

WhiteNoiseMaker

macrumors regular
Apr 22, 2007
142
2
It doesn't sound that crazy to me, I did something like this on my old Windows desktop. I used the TV out card to watch films on my TV. When I'm watching them on that its much better to have the sound coming from the TV, not the computer on the other side of the room.

With the desktop it was easy though as I could just use a 3.5 jack splitter and the speakers for the PC were powered. So I could just switch them off when I was watching on the TV. Hard to to this with the iMac though!
 

cmturner2

macrumors member
Jan 31, 2008
49
0
Apex, NC
One scenario would be to have game audio driven via the speakers, and player communication (teamspeak/whatever) handled via the headset.
 

mike3847

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 27, 2008
15
0
I'm kind of suprised with the confusion on this. I do not need a y adapter or a splitter. What I am asking is if there is a way to have something plugged into the headphone jack, (anything, speaker, headphone, etc) and still have audio come out the internal speakers? Plugging something into the headphone jack turns off the internal speakers, and I don't want to do that. I'm not trying to do surround sound or anything like that. I play internet radio to my two receivers in the house. They are not in the same room as the computer. So when I want sound from the iMac, I have to unplug the cable from the headphone jack, then plug it back in when I want to hear it on the stereos. I don't want to have to keep plugging and unplugging it, so I'm wanting both. Is that clearer?

I think I have found my own soultion. They make headphone to USB adapters. Griffin makes one called iMic. So I can have my stereos hooked into that going into USB, which frees up my headphone jack, which allows my internal speakers to work. Problem solved. I'd still like to know if there is some override that can have them both on though if I use the headphone jack. I read something on a forum that shows how to do it on a Mac running Windows, but not through Mac OS.
 

saltyzoo

macrumors 65816
Oct 4, 2007
1,065
0
In the olden days, you could not use the internal speakers and the headphone jack simultaneously without physically messing with the jack. It is a physical connection that makes the switch when you insert the plug.

Today, however, it's possible that Apple is using a more sophisticated method. I doubt it though.
 

FortunesFool

macrumors member
Nov 2, 2007
35
0
Boston, MA
I believe that the answer is no. I have been trying since June to have use the headphone jack as one set of outs (L/R) and the 2 from my firewire audiocard (again, L/R) as another set. The reason why I wanted to have it set up this way is for audio production/djing to be able to monitor. However, it doesn't work. After conferring with various "geniuses" it seems that core audio doesn't work that way. What you can do is go to audio/midi setup and create a new aggregate sound device. your computer will see the speakers as one out and the headphone jack as another out. it seems like it would be super easy to just add them together and assign them different channels but it just doesn't work. It's really finicky and I could get it to work for a few minutes at a time but then my computer (SR MBP 2.2 2gb) would completely lock up.

However, it might work for you, so i suggest messing around with audio/midi setup for a while (utilities).
I think your best answer would be to buy an external sound card with 2 stereo sets of outs, or depending on the application, 5.1, etc.

good luck
 

tmm4264

macrumors newbie
Aug 19, 2002
4
0
I don't think Core Audio will allow simultaneous sound output to two different audio outputs.

Simply stated, I don't think the operating system can support it.
 

mike3847

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 27, 2008
15
0
SoundSource is EXACTLY what I am looking for. Doesn't allow for both to be on at the same time, but it does allow me to swich between output devices MUCH MUCH easier. Thanks tderemigis!!
 

Leon Kowalski

macrumors 6502a
mike3847 said:
What I am asking is if there is a way to have something plugged into the
headphone jack, (anything, speaker, headphone, etc) and still have audio
come out the internal speakers? Plugging something into the headphone
jack turns off the internal speakers, and I don't want to do that.

mike3847 said:
SoundSource is EXACTLY what I am looking for ... it does allow
me to swich between output devices MUCH MUCH easier.

What version of SoundSource are you using? ...which OS-X?

I have SoundSource 1.4 with Leopard (10.5.1) and it doesn't seem to have
any way of selecting internal speakers while anything is plugged-in to the
"headphone" jack. I've tried both analog and mini-Toslink and it's no-go.

...what am I missing?

LK
 

Leon Kowalski

macrumors 6502a
Update:

I just downloaded SoundSource 2.0 -- still no joy. As you can see from the
screen grab below, there's no "Internal Speakers" option when something
(anything!) is plugged-in to the "Headphone" jack.

...does anyone see both "Internal Speakers" and "Headphones" ?

LK
 

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mike3847

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 27, 2008
15
0
No, it doesn't allow both headphones and internal. If you have headphones plugged in, then it replaces the Internal selection. What I did to work around this was I bought the iMic on Ebay for $22 and it turns a headphone connection into a USB. So I could plug my stereo or headphones into the iMic which is run USB, freeing up my headphone jack. THEN I can use SoundSource to select between iMic and Internal speakers. MUCH easier than going thru System Preferences and Sound and changing it that way.
 

jopete1

macrumors newbie
Apr 2, 2009
1
0
I want to do the same thing...

Mike-
With iMic, can you have the internal speakers running at the same time as the audio output through iMic. I too want to use my iMac as a music server for audio in other rooms and still hear the audio through the internal speakers (at the same time). Sounded like that's what you were trying to do, but your last post left me wondering if you were able to solve this problem...

Jopete1
 

txnoob

macrumors 6502
Mar 12, 2009
349
0
What about Audieee. I have it on my hack netbook. It allows my headphones to be plugged in and I can still play from the internal speaker just by making a selection.

Is that the type of thing you're looking for?
 

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vbmike73

macrumors regular
Nov 8, 2008
149
3
Yes, but does it allow sound to come out of both at the same time? Our goal here is to use iMic or the Headphone port to play to speakers, and still get sound from the iMac internal speakers at the same time. I still have not figured out a way to do this.
 

Consultant

macrumors G5
Jun 27, 2007
13,314
34
Yes, but does it allow sound to come out of both at the same time? Our goal here is to use iMic or the Headphone port to play to speakers, and still get sound from the iMac internal speakers at the same time. I still have not figured out a way to do this.

Simple solution:

You will play the external speakers via
Airport Express.
 

uncle-ned

macrumors newbie
Mar 21, 2009
3
0
I have noticed that using Skype with a usb headset that I could set skype up to use just the headset and other programs would use the internal iMac speakers. So that is possible. But again, that's different applications. I'm not clear if the OP is talking about two sound outputs for the same application.
 

vbmike73

macrumors regular
Nov 8, 2008
149
3
Simple solution:

You will play the external speakers via
Airport Express.

NOT that simple. You can only play iTunes or AitTunes that way. Doesn't help with internet radio, like Pandora. I am looking for a solution for ALL Mac sounds, not just iTunes.
 

vbmike73

macrumors regular
Nov 8, 2008
149
3
I have noticed that using Skype with a usb headset that I could set skype up to use just the headset and other programs would use the internal iMac speakers. So that is possible. But again, that's different applications. I'm not clear if the OP is talking about two sound outputs for the same application.

YES. Two sound outputs for the same application. Plugging in something to the headphone jack turns OFF the internal speakers.
 

mzd

macrumors 6502a
Jul 25, 2005
951
41
Wisconsin
i'm not on my mac right now, but i know you can daisy chain inputs using the Aggregate Device Editor found in the Audio/MIDI Setup (in Utilities). i'm pretty sure the same would work for output, but i haven't tried it myself.
you can for example, link the built-in mic as well as the line in.
 
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